365 thousand passengers a day from Marmaray, 15 thousand vehicles a day from the July 156 Martyrs Bridge; Minister Turhan participated in the first of the “City and Law Talks” conference series organized by Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University Faculty of Law at the Haliç Campus Conference Hall.

In his presentation on “Istanbul in terms of Transportation Policies”, Turhan stated that the need for transportation in humans is very old.

Expressing that there has been a rapid population increase, irregular urbanization and construction in Istanbul, especially after the date of the Republic, Turhan stated that the unplanned infrastructure services also cause problems for the daily life of the people.

“Population increased over 12 times in Istanbul”

Pointing out that the most important problems of the modern world today are transportation problems, Turhan said, “Therefore, countries pay special attention to these issues. They try to overcome the problem with their transportation policies. On the other hand, metropolitan areas are at the forefront of transportation problems. Since Istanbul is one of the few metropolises in the world with its population exceeding 15 million, it has been one of the priority agenda items of transportation policies. ” used expressions.

Pointing out that the main issue in Istanbul transportation has increased around 70-3 times in the last 4 years, the population of the city has increased over 12 times, Turhan said, “Of course, the problem increases even more when insufficient infrastructure and skewed urbanization are added. In addition, when we add the increasing speed of Istanbul-oriented industrial and commercial platforms in the region, the situation becomes even more serious. In fact, if the vision was taken in time with the visionary perspective and the necessary infrastructure preparation was made and the bridge transportation policies were put into effect, the problem would not be experienced at such a level today. ” He spoke in the form.

“The number of vehicles passing through the Martyrs Bridge on July 15 in one day is 156 thousand”

Turhan said that Istanbul's traffic problem was the subject of the news 45 years ago and continued as follows:

“The population of the city was 4 million. At that time, 26 thousand vehicles were passing through the Bosphorus Bridge and citizens complained about spending more than 1 hour in traffic while going from one place to another. You know, at that time, we had authorized and responsible people who had different opinions about whether this bridge should be built or not. I am saying this for 40-50 years ago, the traffic problem of Istanbul was the subject of the news and in a sense it also showed that the alarm bell was ringing. However, precautions were not taken in this regard. Today, the population of the city is close to 16 million. The number of registered vehicles is around 4 million 200 thousand and this still has not reached saturation point. Today, the number of vehicles passing through the Martyrs Bridge on July 15, is 156 thousand. When it was opened, around 26 thousand vehicles were passing, today 156 thousand vehicles pass. If you ask for the real capacity of the bridge, when we rate it according to the service class, 90 thousand vehicles should pass if you pass through the bridges in an ordinary intercity journey without waiting without stopping. Fluent density capacity in traffic is 120 thousand. But currently, an average of 156 thousand vehicles pass through this bridge. "

“As we have done recently, it is possible to prevent the traffic problem and reduce its impact”

Noting that this situation affects transportation negatively, Turhan said:

“You see the infrastructure facilities that have been built to relieve the traffic between the two sides of the Bosphorus, which have passed through our other bridges and which have been planned and put into effect by the local administrations and the central governments in the past years for the transportation problem in Istanbul. As the highway, we put the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the Eurasia Tunnel and Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge into service. ”

Emphasizing the importance of mega projects implemented in Istanbul recently, Minister Turhan said, “It is not possible to solve the problem completely today, but it is possible to prevent the problem from increasing exponentially and to reduce its impact, as we have done recently. This includes sociology, economics, technology, cultural infrastructure and legal situations. So we are facing such complicated and versatile problems. When we talk about Istanbul transportation policies, we should consider all these issues. Especially, it is necessary to stay away from the show and populist approaches. These approaches are against the nature and spirit of transportation policies. You will do business, you will make projects, you will manage projects, you will put them into service. ” he spoke.

Explaining that vehicle ownership rate will increase over time, more vehicles and roads will need on the roads, Turhan said that new transportation infrastructure systems are required in Istanbul and that they should be planned especially considering the existing structure and texture of the city.

“An average of 365 thousand passengers benefit daily from Marmaray”

Minister Turhan stated that important projects are continuing for Istanbul and concluded his words as follows:

“With the projects that have been completed, ongoing and targeted, we work diligently and diligently to move Istanbul's transportation infrastructure to a location worthy of its glory, size and potential. Marmaray, which we put into service in the 90th year of the foundation of our republic, was one of the most important rings of them. While the Marmaray transportation system has been serving with 5,5 stops for the past 5 years in this system, it has started to serve with 43 stops today and an average of 365 thousand passengers use this service per day. ”